


damage ensued and tabloid news

by swallowthewhale



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cisco and Caitlin are teachers, F/M, cause it just didn't work, the familial relationships are not all canon, their students meddle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:42:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22919386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowthewhale/pseuds/swallowthewhale
Summary: Cisco Ramon, physics teacher, and Caitlin Snow, biology teacher, are chaperoning their senior science students on a weekend field trip to Star City Museum of Science. They quickly find out that not only do their kids ship them, they're also willing to meddle. What's the worst that can happen? It's not like they're going to lock Cisco and Caitlin in a closet to force them to talk about their feelings. Right?
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Caitlin Snow
Comments: 15
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MoonlightShines (Thatkillervibe)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatkillervibe/gifts).



> tkv asked for "Cisco & Caitlin being high school teachers for the same grade dealing with their kids on a field trip & their students shipping them the whole time" and it turned into this monster

Cisco Ramon, sitting in the front row of the bus behind the driver, exchanges a weary look with Caitlin Snow, sitting in the seat across the aisle. They’re an hour into a weekend field trip to the Star City Museum of Science and the rowdy and excited group of twenty advanced science students they are chaperoning are well into their third round of “99 Bottles of Beer.” Both Cisco and Barry Allen, who’s sitting in the back with his wife, Iris, had made a valiant attempt to steer the kids towards a more appropriate way of passing the time. Cisco had suggested the elements song and Barry tried to start a game of I Spy, but neither had stuck. Cisco can only hope that the third time’s the charm and the novelty of the song will wear off.

Cisco bangs his head against the plastic screen separating him from the bus driver, startling when a cool palm intercepts his forehead and the seat sinks next to him. Cisco turns to look at Caitlin as she retrieves her hand. 

“Will this ever end?” Cisco moans.

Caitlin only gives him a pained smile.

“Any brilliant ideas?”

Caitlin chews on her lip, considering, then smooths down her blouse and stands in the aisle. It takes a moment for the song to peter out as the students notice Ms. Snow watching them. “As you know,” Caitlin says once it’s silent. “You’ll be writing an essay about what you’ve learned on this trip next week. I will be awarding extra credit worth ten points to anyone who can remain silent from now until we arrive.”

A murmur goes around the bus. Caitlin Snow is well known for _never_ offering extra credit, especially not for something so menial as silence on a school trip.

She raises an eyebrow. “You will all have the opportunity to run around and talk and be excited as much as you want when we arrive, so I would suggest you use the next hour to rest and think about the activities you’d like to participate in at the museum.”

A few hands shoot up. “How will you know if we talk?” Anthony asks from the back. 

Caitlin smiles. “I guess you’ll just have to wait and find out.” She nods at Iris and Barry in the back and sits back down next to Cisco.

He thanks her with wide grateful eyes and clasps his palms together.

Caitlin grins, nudging him with her hip to get him to scoot over and opens her book as the bus settles into blissful silence. 

And if any of the students whisper to each other about how Mr. Ramon and Ms. Snow are _sitting together_ and are so perfect for each other and we need to get them together, well, Cisco and Caitlin don’t hear.

* * *

Cisco wanders around the Mathematica exhibit as his group of students explore. It’s the last event of the day before the museum closes and they get some organized activities and tours while the chaperones get a break. He doesn’t pay much attention to the kids, catching fragments of their conversations, mostly still focused on science even at the end of the day. He drifts closer to a gaggle of kids clustered around Emilia and Nora.

“-I just ship them _so hard-”_

_“-_ what if we-”

“-no, that’s too _obvious_ , we have to-”

“-but they’re in _love-”_

_“-_ I heard Ms. Dearborn say that she’s single!”

“And I heard Mr. Allen tell Ms. West-Allen that they’d be _perfect-_ ”

“-names?”

“Well, no, but-”

Cisco clears his throat from behind them, managing to keep his expression stern as a few of them jump, looking around guiltily. He really doesn’t want to know what they were talking about. Really, _really_ doesn’t want to know. “Five minute warning,” he says.

Emilia and Nora are the only two who remain as the rest scatter, both girls trying to look innocent but only succeeding in looking decidedly impish. “Mr. Ramon,” Emilia says imploringly. “We were wondering…”

Cisco sighs.

“IsMsSnowisyourgirlfriend?” Nora finishes in a rush.

Well. Cisco had been right. He really hadn’t wanted to know. “And what does that have to do with the Fibonacci sequence?” He asks, glancing meaningfully at the exhibit behind them.

They both blush and mumble apologies, scurrying away, clearly dismissed but obviously not discouraged as they whisper to each other, arms linked.

Good lord, Cisco thinks to himself, rubbing a hand over his face. It’s not like he hasn’t heard the rumors from the students in the hallways. They’re astonishingly less subtle than they think they are. Hell, he’s even heard it from all of his colleagues over the years. Caitlin’s his best friend, but apparently everyone thinks that’s weird when both of them are single. But he hadn’t expected the kids to actually meddle. Maybe it was a mistake to let them watch “The Parent Trap” yesterday…

Instead of dwelling on that any longer, Cisco starts herding the group to the IMAX theater, where he can drop them off in the capable hands of the museum staff and join Caitlin, Barry, and Iris for a few hours of a well-deserved break. Iris immediately drags Barry off, mumbling something about the Butterfly Garden, but is more likely going to find some corner to make-out in, since their honeymoon period seems to be never ending.

Caitlin doesn’t seem to mind, just links her arm with Cisco’s as they meander through the Dinosaur Hall and describes some of the antics her group had gotten up to in the Hall of Human Life. Cisco tucks his hands in his pockets, laughing along, and pointing out his favorite dinosaurs in between stories.

At the intersection of the Dinosaur Hall and the Bird World exhibit is a big window looking out over the butterfly garden. Tables and benches fill the small room, full of binoculars, bird and butterfly identification books, and coloring pages. Cisco and Caitlin sit on one of the benches, looking out at the sun setting over the city beyond the garden.

Just bite the bullet, Cisco thinks grimly. “So,” he says slowly. “I overheard some of the kids, talking about… us.”

Caitlin sighs, not looking particularly surprised. “Yeah,” she says wryly. “I had to give my whole group a talking-to about respecting other people’s privacy and not gossiping.” She smiles at him crookedly. “I’m not sure it stuck, though.”

Cisco rubs his hands together, digging his thumb into the palm of his other hand absently. “So should we just ignore it? I guess they’ll forget about it eventually.”

Caitlin shrugs. “What are they going to do? Lock us in a closet?” She pats Cisco’s arm. “Just act normal, they’ll see there’s nothing to it, and find something else to obsess about.”

Cisco stares out the window for a long moment, watching Caitlin watch him in the reflection. “Okay,” he finally agrees. “Act normal then.” 

He knows that normal for them is abnormal for everyone else, if Barry and Iris’ less than subtle hints that he and Caitlin are both secretly in love with each other are anything to go by, but he’s willing to go along with it rather than admit that to Caitlin.

They wander through some of the exhibits they hadn’t gotten to see much of earlier, both ignoring the odd tension of trying to act “normal,” even with no one else around. By the time they make it to the cafeteria to meet the kids for dinner, though, they’re back to usual, even if usual for them is standing a little too close, touching a little too much, and gazes lingering a little too long.

Luckily, the kids are too distracted by the movie and the lightning display and catching up with friends from different groups to notice anything off with their teachers. Barry, Iris, Caitlin, and Cisco sit together at a table that has a good view of the kids while they eat, quietly exchanging tips on which kids to keep a closer eye on, problems between students, and ideas for the next day. After dinner, they all file up to the observatory for a star show, which enthralls the kids to the point of hushed admiration, leaving Cisco to watch Caitlin from the other side of the amphitheater and consider just how screwed he is.

Even with the calm that remains after the star show, getting the kids ready for bed is a chaotic affair, breaking up disagreements about whose sleeping bags should be placed next to whose and trying to corral the kids to and from the bathrooms without losing anyone along the way.

Finally, all the sleeping bags are laid out, all the teeth brushed, and last minute bathroom trips exhausted, and the kids are clustered into groups with flashlights and cell phones for an hour of down time while the chaperones set up their own sleeping bags and take turns visiting the bathrooms.

Caitlin is laying on her stomach, reading her book again, while Iris and Barry, on the other side of the hall, are on their tablets working. Cisco lies on his back, one arm tucked under his head as he stares up at the star-dappled expanse of sky revealed by the open ceiling in what the staff affectionately referred to as the Van Gogh Hall. It’s really just the open area behind the ticket booth at the center of the museum, with stairs at the back, a huge living green wall on the left, and the dinosaurs on the right, but Cisco can see what makes it so special at night. 

Caitlin, without looking up from her book, whispers, “They’re plotting again.”

Cisco doesn’t need to ask who. 

The kids, driven to be far less shy about expressing their opinions after a long, exciting day, had been very vocal about their opinions during the boys’ bathroom trip. Even Barry had been no help, snickering at Cisco’s glare while the boys were running down the hallway, gleefully teasing Cisco about Caitlin. Thank goodness the girls bathroom, and therefore Caitlin, was in the opposite direction.

“Are we still ignoring them?” He asks just as quietly, turning to meet Caitlin’s gaze.

Despite her pink cheeks, Caitlin’s eyes are lively and teasing. “Maybe we should give them something to really talk about.”

Cisco gasps, faking shock. “Caitlin Snow, are you suggesting what I think you are?”

She giggles, closing her book to curl up on her side. “No,” she admits. “It would be funny, though, if we wouldn’t get in trouble for it.”

Cisco resolutely ignores the flip flop of his stomach at the thought of kissing Caitlin under the starry night, even in front of twenty gossipy teens. “Not to mention, it would make them so much worse. We’d never hear the end of it.”

“No,” Caitlin agrees. “Better to ignore them.”

Cisco pretends that any regret he sees in Caitlin’s eyes is due to the dark hall and his own wishful imagination.

* * *

Caitlin wakes up in the middle of the night to quiet murmuring from Cisco and a young voice. She keeps her eyes closed and her back turned, frowning as she listens.

It’s Mia, a soft-spoken girl in both of their classes, voice hitching as she speaks with what Caitlin recognizes as barely controlled tears. “-I saw them kissing when I went to the bathroom.” Her voice trembles. “I don’t know what to do.”

Cisco is quiet for a long moment. “Mia, I can’t tell you what to do, but I do know you deserve someone who likes you and respects you. Not someone who’s sneaking around with another girl.”

Caitlin’s stomach tightens uncomfortably. 

“You’re amazing, Mia, and anyone you date should know that, too.”

“I should tell him that I saw him,” Mia says more firmly. “And that if he wants to kiss her, he shouldn’t be dating me.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Cisco says gently. “But tomorrow, okay? Try to get some sleep.”

Caitlin listens as Mia pads off back to her sleeping back and Cisco lays back down.

“Cait?” He asks quietly.

Caitlin sighs silently, then turns over to face him. “How’d you know?”

He shrugs. “How long were you awake?”

“Not long.” She pulls her blanket more firmly around her shoulders. “Cisco, I-”

“It’s okay,” he says automatically. “That had nothing to do with-”

“It did,” Caitlin interrupts. “It does.” She hesitates.

Cisco reaches out and puts his hand on hers. “Cait, it’s in the past,” he says firmly.

It’s so dark can’t make out any emotion in the fathoms of his eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispers.

Cisco squeezes her hand, then retreats. “I know.”

He rolls over and Caitlin knows he’s done talking about it, but she stays awake for a while, staring up at the night sky and reliving the worst night of her life over and over again in her mind. The one where she’d nearly lost him.


	2. Chapter 2

“Holy. Fucking. Shit.” Emilia's lunch tray clatters to the table as she drops her bag and sits at the table. “I have some _tea_.”

The entire table hushes.

“C’mon, Lia, spill,” Nora urges.

Emilia grins smugly. “So Saturday night on the field trip, Mia saw Connor kiss Grace-”

The table groans collectively. “Old news, Lia,” Sara snaps.

Mia had confronted Connor on Sunday morning at the museum, and it had turned into a shouting match that Mr. Allen and Ms. West-Allen had to separate. The gossip had swept through the entire school by Monday morning. Then Mia’s brother, Will, had punched Connor in the hall before homeroom, and that surge of news had kept the school buzzing until lunch.

Emilia tosses her hair over her shoulder, continuing as if uninterrupted. “ _Anyway_ , Mia went to talk to Mr. Ramon and after Mia went back to sleep, I overheard Mr. Ramon and Ms. Snow talking.”

Emilia’s eyes glitter with excitement. She had obviously chosen to set up her sleeping bag close to them for just this reason. 

She pauses dramatically, then whispers, “I think Mr. Ramon and Ms. Snow had a thing!”

The table erupts. 

“Look,” Emilia says, holding up a hand at the demands for details. “They were vague.” She makes a face. “Mr. Ramon said that what happened between them was nothing like what happened with Mia and Connor, but then Ms. Snow said it _was_ , and Mr. Ramon said it was in the past, and they barely looked at each other all of Sunday.”

Everyone speaks over each other, coming up with more and more fantastical explanations, until Jenna’s tentative voice cuts through. “Did Mr. Ramon cheat on Ms. Snow?”

The table falls silent, all of them looking at each other uneasily.

“No, right?” Sara says uncertainly. “He wouldn’t do that.”

“What if… Ms. Snow cheated on him?” Dawn asks.

The table collectively shakes their heads, all coming to agreement that neither Mr. Ramon nor Ms. Snow would cheat.

“It must be something else,” Nora says. “We’ve all seen the way they look at each other.”

“Smitten,” Jenna agrees.

“I know what this means.” Emilia leans over the table, a wicked grin growing on her face. “We need to investigate.”

The clamor of ideas overwhelms the group for several minutes until Sara takes over. “Let’s be methodical,” she says calmly. “Dawn, social media. Jenna, poke around the teacher’s lounge. You can always claim to be looking for your uncle. Nora, Lia, you two take Mr. Ramon and Ms. Snow. Be subtle, though, they already know we’re onto them.”

“And you?” Nora asks.

Sara grins. “I’m going to feed the rumor mill.”

Dawn goes to the library during study period with her laptop, tucks herself into her usual corner with a furtive glance for anyone watching, and proceeds to set up all the best search algorithms that she knows to find any trace of Mr. Ramon and Ms. Snow on the internet. She finds work histories, college diplomas, even a birth notice for Mr. Ramon, but no social media accounts. Admitting defeat, she tries their friends instead and has better luck with Ms. West-Allen, finding a tidy cache of photos of Mr. Ramon and Ms. Snow that Ms. West-Allen had posted, but none of them prove anything more than a particularly close friendship.

At the same time, Jenna is down the hall, lurking outside the teacher’s lounge and eavesdropping on Mr. Allen and Mr. Ramon. They’re talking about robotics club, boring, but what’s unusual is that Ms. Snow, who’s usually in the lounge with them at this time, is nowhere to be seen. Jenna listens for a little while longer, then deciding Mr. Allen and Mr. Ramon aren’t going to be very informative, walks down to the main office, ostensibly to make photocopies for Ms. Reynolds’ history class, but really to listen to the office staff gossip. It’s a good source of information of the goings-on of the faculty, but today is focused on Ms. Dearborn getting engaged to her boyfriend over the weekend, and Jenna abandons it all as a lost cause for the day. 

Nora stays behind after fifth period A.P. Biology to ask Ms. Snow the most subtle question she can think of without it being too far out of field.

“Ms. Snow, how do you know if you’re in love?” Nora asks innocently.

Ms. Snow nearly drops her textbook. “I’m sorry?” She asks, raising an eyebrow.

Nora feigns embarrassment. “It’s just, there’s this girl, and I’m not sure if she likes me like _that_ , but I really like her, and I just- how do I know if she’s the one, ya know?”

Ms. Snow’s piercing look tells Nora that she’s not being quite as clever as she thinks. “Well,” she says slowly. “Sometimes you don’t know until you try. Maybe you should tell this girl how you feel and see what she says.”

Nora smiles tentatively, then takes the plunge. “Ms. Snow, have _you_ ever been in love?”

Ms. Snow’s eyes go chilly for a moment, but then the warm, if weary, look is back. “I was engaged, a long time ago. His name was Ronnie Raymond. And yes, I loved him.”

“What happened?”

She smiles sadly. “He died, Nora.” Ms. Snow rests a hand on hers. “Nora, sometimes life is shorter than you expect. Don’t live with regrets.”

Then she sweeps out of the room with her books and Nora can only stare after her in speculation.

Next period, after A.P. Physics, is Emilia’s turn. She takes a more direct approach, leading with an impertinent, “Mr. Ramon, why aren’t you and Ms. Snow together?”

Mr. Ramon splutters, nearly choking on his water. “What?”

Lia repeats the question, greatly enjoying the growing look of horror on Mr. Ramon’s face.

“Emilia,” he finally says. “That is entirely inappropriate.” Then he hurries out of the room.

Not a success, per se, Emilia decides, but getting somewhere. She’s confident she can wear him down.

As for Sara, there are five different versions of Mr. Ramon and Ms. Snow’s history being passed around by the end of the day. 

Sara, Dawn, Jenna, Nora, and Emilia compare notes at lunch the next day.

“So,” Nora says, pushing her notebook toward the center of the table with a very short numbered list of what they know written at the top of the page. “Not much progress.”

“I can ask dad tonight,” Jenna offers. “He and aunt Iris are close, maybe he knows something.”

“Good,” Sara says. “Dawn, keep trying social media, maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“I can look into Ronnie Raymond,” Nora offers. “I’m not sure it has anything to do with this, but…”

Emilia shrugs. “Doesn’t hurt. I’ll talk to Mr. Ramon again tomorrow.” She grins wickedly. “I can ask him about one of the rumors.”

Sara leans back in her seat. “I have another idea, too…”

Sara’s idea, as Lia puts it, is batshit fucking crazy. She plans to get into the schoolusing her brother, John’s football game on Thursday night as cover. Then she’ll break into Mr. Ramon and Ms. Snow’s classrooms to look for clues. The breaking into the classrooms part is so deliberately vague that Nora guesses Sara either knows how to pick locks or really has no plan at all. She’d put money on the lock picking, though, because Sara knows all kinds of crazy things she picked up from her namesake, her aunt Sara Lance, an actual swear-to-God ninja as far as Nora can tell.

By some miracle, though, it works. Lia keeps watch while Sara and Nora rummage through Mr. Ramon’s, then Ms. Snow’s classrooms. Then, when neither room turns anything up, they move down to the teacher’s lounge, which is a long-shot, but worth trying while they’re there, as Sara puts it.

They’re huddled at the top of the bleachers after Sara carefully re-locks all the rooms and they sneak out of the building, pretending to watch the game while trying to think of what to do next. Dawn and Jenna run up the bleachers minutes later, Jenna waving something excitedly. 

“I think I’ve got something!” She says, holding out the photo for all to see.

The girls gather around it while Jenna catches her breath. “I found it in uncle Barry and aunt Iris’ wedding album,” she explains. “They were best man and maid of honor. I took pictures with my phone of the rest, but this one needed to be seen up close.”

Dawn points out the people of interest, in the background of a photo of Mr. Allen and Ms. West-Allen dancing at their wedding. In the corner, nearly cut off, are Mr. Ramon and Ms. Snow in each other’s arms. Sara whips a magnifying glass out of nowhere, purposefully ignoring Lia’s incredulous look, and holds it over the photo.

“I’ll scan it and blow it up on my computer at home,” Dawn says. “But, I think we all can say for sure-”

“They’re kissing,” Nora breathes.

The girls examine the photo for a breath longer. And, yes, definitely, Ms. Snow’s face is turned up to Mr. Ramon’s, one hand on her back and the other on her cheek, and Jenna blushes, feeling suddenly like she’s intruding.

She takes the photo back. “I think that’s evidence enough,” Jenna says. “The wedding was a long time ago, though, we don’t even know how long ago they might’ve broken up.”

Nora looks at them all with wide eyes, a sudden idea sparking. “ _Wait,_ what if they never broke up?”

Sara interrupts the squealing. “No, but what about the weirdness last weekend?”

Nora shrugs. “Maybe an old disagreement? Doesn’t mean they broke up over it.”

Jenna frowns. “No, I think they did break up,” she says reluctantly. “I asked dad about it and he said that they’ve been dancing around each other for years. I’m not sure that any of their friends even knew they were dating before.”

Sara taps her fingers against her mouth. “Okay, so we know something happened between them at the wedding, but either they broke up or never got together at all after that. The wedding was how long ago?”

“Four years?” Jenna guesses. “I was there, but I didn’t know them yet.”

“So in the last four years,” Sara continues, “something happened that screwed up their relationship.”

“But not enough to stop being friends,” Nora points out. “They’ve been totally normal until last weekend.”

“Think,” Lia says. “We all had Ms. Snow for biology freshman year and Mr. Ramon for physics last year. Does anyone remember them acting weird at all?”

Slowly all the girls shake their heads. 

“Wait,” Dawn says suddenly. “Ms. Snow never misses school, right?”

They all nod in agreement. 

“What about the day she was out sick freshman year, and we had that crazy substitute teacher who wouldn’t stop talking about the apocalypse?”

Lia’s eyes light up. “Yes! Mr. Thawne. What a weirdo. You think Ms. Snow was out because-”

“Because she was heartbroken!” Nora finishes. “Dawnie, you’re brilliant!”

Dawn rolls her eyes at her sister. “But how are we going to find out what actually happened? It’s not like Mr. Ramon and Ms. Snow are going to tell us.”

“No,” Sara says, eyes glinting with mischief. “We just need to set them up to talk to each other. Lock them in a closet, so to speak.”


	3. Chapter 3

Cisco is very aware of the multitude of rumors swirling around the school, each more ridiculous than the last, and the probing questions of one Emilia Nelson and her group of nosy friends. He even includes Jenna in that, sweet as she may be when he sees her at Barry and Iris’. He’s also aware that Caitlin is avoiding him. They usually take their prep period together after lunch, but she’s been conspicuously absent and has brushed off his texts with abrupt one-word answers.

So, Caitlin is upset with him, a bunch of teenagers are trying to meddle in his love life, and Barry won’t take any of it seriously. (“They’re just kids, Cisco. Besides, are we really going to ignore the fact that you’re obviously in love with Caitlin? I mean if a bunch of teenagers can see it…”) Barry had ducked when Cisco tried to smack him, grinning like a loon, and Cisco had stopped complaining.

On Friday after his A.P. Physics class, Sara Diggle comes up to him. He eyes her warily, but she just grins brightly at him.

“How can I help you, Sara?”

“I’m really struggling with calculating friction. Could we go over it again?”

The only reason Cisco knows that Sara is lying is because she’d gotten a perfect score on the pop quiz yesterday and because she has way too much of Sara Lance in her. Although, knowing her parents, being able to lie perfectly might be just as much nature as nurture. 

“Sure,” Cisco agrees anyway, because God help him if she really does need the help and Lyla finds out he didn’t help. “I’ll be here for an hour after school today.”

“Thanks, Mr. Ramon!” Sara says happily, jogging off to catch up with her friends in the hallway, and Cisco has a sinking feeling that this is all a trap.

Cisco spends seventh period in the teacher’s lounge grading, then reluctantly goes back to his classroom to find out what exactly Sara wants, since it sure as hell isn’t help with physics.

He stops short just inside the door when he spots Caitlin perched on the edge of his desk. The door clicks shut behind them, but neither of them notice when the lock clicks.

“Cait.”

“Cisco,” she says, standing. “What are you doing here?”

Cisco frowns. “This is my classroom? I’m meeting a student to go over some problems. What are _you_ doing here?”

She studies him for a moment, then sighs. “I got a note.” She holds it out to him.

He reads it quickly. “Fucking Diggle,” he grumbles. “We’ve been set up.”

“Diggle? Which one?”

“Sara,” Cisco says, dropping into his chair. “She’s too good of a damn liar. I would have seen right through any of the others.”

Caitlin walks around the desk to lean against it facing him. “So. Maybe we should actually talk about it, then. Since they went to so much trouble to get us in the same room.”

“How much do you want to bet the door is locked?” Cisco asks wryly, not moving to check.

“Cisco,” Caitlin says quietly. “I’m sorry.”

He looks down at his hands. “For what?”

“You know what.”

Cisco groans. “Why don’t you spell it out for me? Because lately I’ve been feeling like we’re talking about two different things.”

Caitlin’s eyes narrow. “Fine. Why don’t you tell me what you think happened.”

He stares at her, then looks away towards the window. “We… kissed. At Barry and Iris’ wedding.” He looks back up at her. “Then you told me it was a mistake, and after a truly awkward week in which I thought I’d ruined our friendship, we both agreed to go back to how things always were. Best friends. Nothing more.”

Caitlin stares at him. “That’s not how I remember it.”

“No?” Cisco leans towards her.

“No. I- yes, we kissed. And it was-” she inhales sharply. “But I, well I guess I freaked out a bit. I hadn’t been with anyone since Ronnie, we’d both been drinking. I talked myself into thinking it was just the dancing and the alcohol and sappy wedding feelings. Nothing real.”

“On your end?”

“On yours,” Caitlin corrects. “On my end, it was… It was something I’d wanted for a while.”

Cisco’s breath catches at the admission. He stands, stepping in front of Caitlin, and very slowly boxing her against the desk. She’s usually just the same height as him in her heels, but leaning against the desk has him a bit taller and when she looks up at him through her lashes, Cisco’s heart thumps painfully. “How long,” Cisco whispers, “is a while?”

“Cisco,” Caitlin protests.

“Caitlin.”

“Since that Valentine’s Day, when you were complaining about finding your ‘love donut,’ I think is how you put it.” 

Cisco inhales sharply. “But I thought you and Julien-”

Caitlin rolls her eyes. “I remember very specifically telling you that Julien and I were just friends.”

“So you wanted-”

“You, idiot,” Caitlin whispers, hands curling into the hem of his sweater. She tugs slightly when he just stares at her wordlessly. “You haven’t told me what it was on your end.”

Cisco kisses her instead.

Neither of them notice the five beaming face peeking in through the window, or the quiet click of the lock being picked, or Jenna ushering her nosy friends away to celebrate more loudly in the parking lot.

No, Caitlin only notices his hand slipping through her hair to cradle the back of her head and tilt her face up to deepen the kiss. She notices his other hand hot on her back, pulling her close, and his thighs bracketing hers, and the hitch of his breath when she slips her fingers under his shirt. Caitlin notices the muddled gleam of adoration and desire in his eyes when he pulls away, maybe what she would have seen under a starry sky a week ago if the moon had been out. She notices the ache of want in her own chest and also that Sara is definitely not showing up to go over homework with him. Which means she can take him home and not let him out of her sight for the whole weekend.

“Come over?” She asks breathily, and they both know it means much more.

And that’s okay, because there’s more than one way to say I love you.

* * *

On Monday, the rumors have solidified firmly into the common knowledge that Mr. Ramon and Ms. Snow are together and though no student dares to say it to their face, everyone also knows that it’s all because of a field trip to a museum, Connor Hawke cheating on Mia Queen with Grace Gibbons, and five meddlesome teenagers.

**Author's Note:**

> title from dinner & diatribes by hozier


End file.
